Danger of Parenthood
by Aprilise
Summary: A Dangerverse AU A choice was made. A family formed. When the truth comes out will it survive.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter that is owned by JK Rowling. I did not write the Dangerverse that honor goes to Anne Walsh. I'm just borrowing from them.

Author's Notes: The inspiration for this story came while reading Living with Danger by whydoyouneedtoknow. For those who are familiar with the Dangerverse I fiddled with some ages and some dates. I hope you enjoy it. Title suggestions are welcome as I'm not good with titles. Now on to the story.

Dangers of Parenthood

She walked down the road in the quiet neighborhood, not really paying attention to where she was going. The neighborhood her family lived in was peaceful, calm, ordinary...and completely boring. The peacefulness of the neighborhood was one reason she loved taking her daily walks. The other was that walking had always calmed her down, ever since she was a little kid, and she needed it today. Today was her dark day. The one day she dreaded above all others.

Today was the anniversary. The one her daughter should be celebrating. The one day she hoped her daughter never had to celebrate.

Twelve years ago today, she had come home from school to find her parents lying dead on the floor of the house they had lived in. Their faces frozen in terror, their eyes wide open, and her young sister screaming in her crib upstairs. Twelve years ago, she had found herself the guardian of said sister. At age seventeen, the responsibility of raising a one-and-a-half-year-old had been forced upon her. Yet giving the toddler to the care of Social Services was never an option. She wouldn't have been able to bear losing the only family she had left, and her parents would have wanted her to raise Neenie.

The next few weeks passed in a blur. Her parents had both had wills, leaving everything to her and Neenie equally. The will also stated the preference that she and Neenie stay together. There was more said, about their parents business, and some other assets, but most of the words blurred in her head. She didn't remember much of the funeral at all. Some flashes of her parents in coffins, speakers who had mentioned their lives and their children, and the voice of the social worker who had interviewed her later that day.

"Children need a mother and a father, and a stable environment," the woman had said condescendingly to start the meeting, looking down at her, eyes full of denial. A piece of paper being placed in front of her as the woman continued to speak. She was too young, the woman said, handing her a pen and placing her hand on the paper. Her life wasn't stable enough. "For the girl's sake, I am going to recommend that she be removed from your custody."

She remembered the paper in front of her smoldering, remembered the pen falling from her hands. She had left the office then, running home, pain echoing around her head, her thoughts dark. It was there that a plan came to her. For Neenie's sake, to keep them together, she would marry. True, it wasn't the smartest plan, but she didn't see any other options. She even knew someone who would help, someone who would be more than happy to marry her even if she came with a child. John Jacobs had been her friend since nursery school, and for about that long had been asking to marry her; she had always refused before, not really wanting to marry anyone. But when he asked next, she would say yes, and she would be able to keep her sister safe. She didn't love him, but he was her best friend, and he adored Neenie.

They married quickly, and together they managed to get custody of Neenie, her parents' wills and John's parents' support helping their case greatly. Their life was chaotic those first few weeks; they sold the house that she, Neenie, and their parents had shared, and moved to a smaller house. John got a job at a company called Grunnings, and she took babysitting jobs in the neighborhood, went to school, and cared for Neenie. The police were frequent visitors during this time as well, trying to track down who murdered their parents.

At first their marriage was one of convenience. She had kept her last name when they married, and John had been understanding, perhaps too much so. He'd hyphenated his last name and even adopted Neenie so she would never be taken away. She spent a lot of time with Neenie, determined to give her sister the life the murderers had taken away from them.

They had always planned on telling the girl the truth. But when she was young, people always assumed they were a family, and it was too much work to correct them. By the age of three, Neenie was calling her and John mummy and daddy. By four, Neenie had no memory of the fact that she had once had other parents. And by that time, even she had begun to believe in their makeshift family, and to care deeply for her husband. It was also during this time she considered adding a new member to the family.

For the three years they had lived in Little Whinging, she had been babysitting a young boy down the road. From the moment she had seen Harry Potter she had known something was wrong. It was only recently that she had gotten proof. She had turned the information over to the authorities, and considered adopting the young boy when he was removed from his aunt and uncle's custody. One week later, the couple they were renting the house from suddenly decided to sell it, and John lost his job. Two weeks later, they had to move, back to where everything started.

Her sister had been a sweet, sensitive, and inquisitive child, and knowing of the pain of losing parents at that age wouldn't have helped her, but living again in the house they had both been born in increased these traits, and increased her unwillingness to tell her sister about life before. As Neenie grew, she found more and more reasons not to tell. She was too young. It would break her heart. She was happier not knowing. But even with all the excuses she came up with, she had known she would have to tell Neenie eventually. Especially after Neenie got that letter. She'd been so close to telling Neenie when the girl was eleven, but then the letter had come, and it just seemed better not to tell her that her parents weren't her parents.

The chaos of Neenie's first year at school had filled her with worry, and with resolve that her sister was better off not knowing. It was during the second, when her baby sister, her daughter, was turned into stone for weeks, and in a place where she could not go see what was happening to her, that she had decided to tell. Yet that summer she hadn't. The family had taken a vacation, and been happy, but she had chickened out. Now she was hearing things about an escaped convict, about scary things going on at her sisters school, and she knew she would have to tell. Yes, she would tell Neenie the truth when the girl returned home for the Christmas holidays.

She just prayed she would be forgiven for waiting so long.

Her thoughts slowed as she began walking closer to her house. A feeling of worry crept into her as she stopped suddenly; dread growing inside her as she felt something she hadn't felt since she was seventeen, the feeling that there was no happiness in the world, the feeling that she was being watched. In that moment she knew something was wrong, and that her life would be changing again. Her whole body shook as she reached the door of their home, her hand reaching out involuntarily as she turned the doorknob.

Opening the door slowly, she stood in shock for a moment; just like twelve years ago, just like that horrible day, when she had lost everything, it had happened again. Her voice came back in a rush and she screamed at the sight in front of her. There on the floor, his eyes widened in terror, lay the body of her husband. The same look of terror on his face, in almost the same spot as her parents had been. Her scream faded, her vision grew black, and Gertrude Granger knew no more.

Miles away in a castle in Scotland, Hermione Granger awoke suddenly, a feeling of loss rushing through her before leaving. She rolled over, looking around the snoring-student-filled Great Hall, looking longest at her two best friends, before falling back into a troubled sleep.


End file.
